A/N: I'm tired. School is killing me. Bleh. Anyways, I've got this chapter done. One or two more and it's over...no more Land of Milk and Honey. Well, it's been fun. Especially with Koushirou. And Wallace. Somehow, I love the way their characters came out more than any of the others. Do I detect slight Daikenness in this chapter? **Gasp** How did that get in there? **Tries to look innocent**
"Okay, who's going to be the goalie?" the Kaiser asked the five boys huddled around him.
"I'm not," Taichi said quickly, frowning at the thought of being kept away from the action during the game.
"Wallace, you're the goalie," the Kaiser said decisively.
Wallace frowned. "Why do I have-"
"I said you're the goalie," the Kaiser repeated icily.
Wallace kicked at the ground. He brought a hand up to stroke the silky jester hat on his head and grumbled, "My hat would probably fall off while I was running, anyways."
"Are you almost ready to lose?" Michael snootily called over to the group.
"Be right there," the Kaiser said, baring his teeth as he smiled over at the Germans.
He turned back to the grim faces waiting for his last words.
"Okay, let's go out there and kick some German ass."
The boys gave war cries and followed their brave leader to the middle of the field, where a black-and-white ball waited for a game to start.
Kaiser and Michael faced off over the ball, eyes narrowed and fists clenched.
"Nice uniforms," Michael smirked unkindly. "The color is perfect for you."
At this, the Kaiser made a growling noise that almost put Yamato's wolf-like snarls to shame.
"Bring it on, you prissy bastard."
~ ~ ~ ~
"Are you sure you saw them here?!"
"Yes."
"There's a ring of black where a campfire used to be, and it doesn't look old," Jun said, pointing at the black ring on the cave floor. "Someone was here earlier."
Sora gnashed her teeth together as she frantically worked out a new plan in her head. What were they to do now? There was no way of telling which way the blue-haired man and his captive went.
She turned to Jun.
"What now?"
Jun sighed. "I don't know. You're the leader of this operation. I just do what you tell me to do."
Sora sat down on the cave floor, crossing her arms and thinking hard. Should they go back to the town and spend another night at the inn, then try to use Ken to find Jyou again the next morning? Should they continue on and see if they discovered something new?
She was saved from her decision-making by a crackling sound coming from her pockets.
"Sora! Sora!"
She leapt in her seat and fumbled around for the device. As she lifted it to her ear, she could make out the words, "Jyou, Mimi, and this group of people just came into town! Get back here, A. S. A. P.!"
"Thanks, Shin!" she cried as she stumbled to her feet and began running out of the cave.
Jun grabbed Ken and Hikari and began running after her, muttering, "Thank goodness," under her breath.
~ ~ ~ ~
"It's about time," Miyako panted, collapsing onto a hard, wooden bench as Koushirou wandered over to a civilian to inquire about local hotels.
"Yeah, I was just about to pass out," Daisuke complained. "I told you fifteen miles was too much to walk."
"Well, we're the ones that had to deal with your constant complaining the whole way," Jyou pointed out, carefully seating Mimi beside him. "I seriously considered actually finding that cliff and throwing you over."
"You wouldn't," Daisuke grinned, "because you love me."
Miyako and Jyou burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Koushirou asked, making his way back over to the group. He held his hands out to Iori, who was sitting on the floor, and Iori grabbed them and used them to lever himself back up onto his feet.
"I don't think they love me," Daisuke pouted, narrowing his eyes accusingly at Miyako and Jyou, who were trying not to laugh again.
"Of course they love you," Koushirou said, pulling Daisuke to his feet and resting an arm around the boy's shoulders. "We all love you. Now then, let's go find this hotel I just found out about."
They found the hotel and checked in, left their hoard of personal belongings and leftover doughnuts in the hotel room, and journeyed out into the town to find a place to eat.
En route to a restaurant that the inhabitants of the town seemed to collectively agree was the best place to eat, the group couldn't help but feel a sudden uneasiness in the air.
"Is it just me or are we being followed?" Miyako asked quietly.
"We are," Koushirou said, looking uncharacteristically somber. "Just don't look back. Keep walking."
The tension grew thicker and thicker until, at last, the stalkers made themselves known.
"Hey, Jyou," a caustic voice called out. "Where are you taking dear Mimi?"
The group spun around simultaneously and Jyou gave a surprised cry of, "Sora!"
"Yeah, me," Sora said, smiling maliciously.
Koushirou spotted the gun in the other woman's hand and put a hand out to stop Daisuke when he saw the boy move to take a step forward.
"What do you want with Jyou?" Daisuke asked defensively.
"Hush, Daisuke," Jyou said calmly. "Let me handle this."
"Yeah, let Jyou talk," Sora said, eyes never leaving the blue-haired man's pale, drawn face.
"Sora, there's no need to be irrational about this. Tell your friend to drop the gun and we can have a talk over dinner."
"You think this is irrational?" Sora asked incredulously. "You getting my best friend pregnant and ruining her reputation, then making it worse by kidnapping her in the middle of the night, that's irrational."
"Sora, I don't know what to tell you other than how sorry I am for making you worry about your friend this much."
"My best friend. Sorry just isn't going to cut it," Sora said coldly. She held her hand out to Jun, who placed the gun on her partner's palm. Sora held it out to aim at Jyou's forehead and rested her thumb on the safety catch. "You've got quite a fine price on your head, Jyou. Did you know that?"
Koushirou and Daisuke had both moved towards Jyou when Sora lifted the gun, but he held them both back with his arms and quietly told them to stay put.
"You do realize that if you shot me Mimi would hate you, right?" Jyou asked carefully.
Jyou smiled when Sora's hand wavered slightly, a sign that he'd hit a nerve with his question.
"She wouldn't hate me, she'd thank me," the woman replied coldheartedly, though a bit too quickly.
Jyou shook his head slowly. He held a hand out to Sora, as if in a peace-offering.
"Just drop the gun and come have dinner with us, okay?"
"No!" Sora cried, gripping the handle of the gun so hard it turned her knuckles white.
Jyou remained silent for a while, then began walking forward. Koushirou and Daisuke called after him and Miyako hugged Mimi tightly. Jyou stopped walking when his forehead was pressing lightly against the gun barrel and his face was inches away from Sora's. Sora was surprised at how calm Jyou's eyes looked.
"Put the gun down, Sora," Jyou said quietly, face impassive.
"Why should I?" she asked shakily.
"Sora," Jyou murmured. "Don't."
Sora's hand began to shake.
"You got her pregnant," she hissed. "She's just eighteen, just a fucking kid, and you got her pregnant."
Jyou watched as Sora lowered the gun slightly, felt it as it pressed against his nose, as she reached a hand up to wipe across her eyes.
"A kid having a kid," Sora mumbled. "It's just wrong. Mimi's too good for that."
"I agree," Jyou said quietly. "She truly is."
"Then why would you do that?!" Sora snapped, pressing the gun hard into Jyou's forehead. He felt sure it would leave a mark, but didn't particularly care.
"I love her," Jyou replied, sounding so honest Sora found her hand wavering again. "I know I shouldn't have kidnapped her, and I probably shouldn't have even had sex with her in the first place, but all I could think of that night was how much I loved her and how we were planning on running away to get married soon."
"You were?"
Jyou nodded.
Sora looked away, lower lip trembling. "She never told me."
"We promised each other we'd keep it a secret."
"But she tells me everything," Sora said, voice trembling with emotion and an almost hidden tone of betrayal. "Or at least she did before you came into her life."
"I'm sorry," Jyou said again in his honest, soft voice.
Sora hung her head and her hand went limp, falling to her side and allowing the gun to slip from her fingers and onto the ground. Jyou lifted a hand to rest on Sora's shoulder and Sora sighed deeply, shrugging it off.
"I truly am."
Sora nodded slowly, refusing to raise her eyes from the ground. "Yeah, I know you are."
Jun frowned darkly as she watched the entire exchange. She had the feeling Sora was going to back out on their bounty-hunting mission and she wasn't going to allow that to happen. She needed the money she would garner with the retrieval of this man's head.
"Sora, ten thousand dollars," Jun reminded her partner.
Sora lifted a hand to press against her forehead. "Shut up, Jun."
Jun clenched her teeth and glared at Jyou and the back of Sora's head.
"Well, someone is going to pay me ten thousand dollars."
"I have an idea!" Koushirou shouted joyfully, startling everyone around him.
Jun gave him an absurd look. "And just what does this idea of yours entail?"
"I'll give you my job!" Koushirou replied with an easy grin.
"What?"
"I'm a police officer guy," Koushirou said, waving one hand in the air as if to illustrate or emphasize. "I go after bad guys and shoot them, too, and I probably get easier jobs than you do as a bounty hunter, with pretty much the same amount of money involved. Interested yet?"
"Go on."
"Well, I'm planning on quitting right away, so there will be one spot to fill for a police officer. My boss will gladly accept someone of your talents, since we don't get people who are already trained too often. I'll recommend you to him. He'll give you the job."
"I don't know..."
"You get plenty of free doughnut money."
"Okay, I'll try it out."
"Great!"
Koushirou and Jun shook hands, one with effortless enthusiasm and one with a small amount of reluctance.
"Can we go have dinner now?" Daisuke asked.
"Good idea, Dai," Koushirou smiled at him. "Come on, everyone, I'll lead the way to the restaurant."
"Can we make one little stop on the way over?" Sora asked, smiling sheepishly. "We just need to pick up two of our friends."
~ ~ ~ ~
"Ken!" Daisuke cried, bounding forward and embracing the taller boy, knocking the tall, black witch's hat off of his head.
"Daisuke," Ken greeted in return, grunting slightly at the discomfort involved in getting trapped in a bear hug while his arms were bound with rope behind his back. "Is Takeru with you?" the indigo-haired boy asked hopefully.
"No," Daisuke frowned. "He isn't with you?"
Ken shook his head sadly. They both hung their heads, staring at the floor with worried faces.
"Are you going to get your friend out of those ropes or not?" Koushirou asked Daisuke, letting the rope he'd just untied fall from around Hikari's wrists.
Daisuke jumped slightly and immediately set to work on the ropes. He soon got Ken's wrists and ankles free.
"Thanks," Ken said softly, rubbing the red area circling his thin wrists where the rope dug into the skin.
"Sorry about that," Sora said, still sporting a guilty grin.
"Why did you decide to set us free?" Ken asked her, raising an elegant eyebrow.
"Long story. I'll tell you later," Daisuke promised. "Let's go get something to eat now."
"Eating sounds like a good idea," Hikari said, stretching her arms out and smiling to herself.
Daisuke went over to hug her and she hugged back, happy to see her favorite dance partner alive and well. Hikari adjusted the feather headband on her head and walked to Ken to check and see if the ropes had caused any serious damage.
"Okay, people, let's move towards the door," Koushirou said loudly, waving his arms over his head and towards the hotel room doorway. He continued to do this until everyone was outside of the room and then followed them himself, shaking his head. "I have to do everything around here."
Jyou, having heard this, was quick to walk beside him on their way to the restaurant, eager to help his new friend out with deciphering directions. Hikari and Miyako walked on either side of Sora and Mimi, happily chatting about everything they could think of, followed by Daisuke and Ken, who spoke few words between each other but made up for it with occasional touches and significant looks, and Jun and Iori, who both walked silently, surveying their surroundings.
They reached the restaurant and huddled inside, packed close together for warmth and other, more discrete reasons that need not be mentioned aloud.
~ ~ ~ ~
The soccer game, as mentally predicted in advance by each of the six teammates, was not going very well for our dear, misfortunate heroes.
The ball was often kept trapped in the center of the field by the walls of opposing, overly competitive young men. Kaiser and Taichi breathed smoke and fire as they compiled their entire will-power into losing as gracefully and slightly as possible. Osamu, Yamato and Takeru held back slightly, fearing for their lives if they got in between the speed demons that their friends had become and the soccer ball that Michael often kept tauntingly in his possession.
The goalies were given a break as the ball seldom reached their ends of the field, and Wallace was taking the opportunity to lie upon the floor and make shapes out of the clouds overhead. Once, Michael managed to break through the indigo and brunette barrier, charging down the field and kicking the ball into the goal so hard that Wallace hardly even caught a glimpse of the thing flying over his head. He struggled to sit up just as the ball ricocheted off of the net and bounced off of the top of his head and watched in confusion as two of his teammates screamed furiously at him to pay attention to the game.
After that incident, Wallace made it a point to glance at the violence taking place in the center of the field as often as his bored and easily-distracted mind could manage.
Unbeknownst to the Kaiser and his team, television cameras were carefully watching from the sidelines, capturing each and every moment on film to be televised to the globe, thanks to the generous donation Michael had offered prior to the game.
